2
$\begingroup$

I wanted to make a Solar system in Blender. Everything on the scene is made pitch black (including World), except planets and Sun. I want that planets cast shadows so I added an Emission node to the Sun, but planets are still fully visible. enter image description here All planets just have Image Texture nodes like this. enter image description hereAnd this is Node Tree of the Sun. enter image description hereMy render engine is Cycles.

$\endgroup$
10
  • $\begingroup$ Could you add a picture of the node network of one of your planets ? $\endgroup$
    – Gorgious
    Jan 22, 2020 at 8:42
  • $\begingroup$ @Gorgious I've done it! $\endgroup$
    – Helix
    Jan 22, 2020 at 10:45
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Do you have some ambient occlusion ? It is in the world properties. Without any lights the planets should'nt be visible in rendered view $\endgroup$
    – Gorgious
    Jan 22, 2020 at 10:51
  • $\begingroup$ @Gorgious But when I turn it off, Sun's texture disappears and planets are almost invisible, they are just slightly orange on the side that's facing the Sun $\endgroup$
    – Helix
    Jan 22, 2020 at 10:57
  • $\begingroup$ @Gorgious is right. You need to turn up the Emission and disable the AO. $\endgroup$ Jan 22, 2020 at 11:12

1 Answer 1

2
$\begingroup$

You need to disable Ambient Occlusion in the world properties.

If you use the shader of the sun itself to light the scene, your texture will be overwhelmed by the emission part and any detail will be lost.

You can emulate the light from the sun by using a point light centered on the sun itself. Remember to set its size to a high enough number so that it is bigger than the sun object or else light won't get through to your planets. You can then set the emission strength of the sun to a low enough value that it still appears to be glowing but you still see all the details of your texture. enter image description here

Details on the point light (Adjust these settings depending on your scene) :

enter image description here

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .